Worth buzzing over to.....

Queenie would just like to share an absolutely amazing blog with you, dear readers.  An anonymous author who describes herself as a daughter of Jesus, wife, mom, and teacher- also happens to digiscrap and practice up on her graphic design in her free time.  Now, that line right there amazes Queenie- if you buzz over to her blog, you will wonder if she ever sleeps!

Chalk full of absolutely darling crafts, ideas, and enticing tot projects, Confessions of a Homeschooler will forever ban the word bored from your vocabulary (if you have ever actually used that term while caring for small children. Queenie personally feels as if she is perpetually buzzing around a blossom that she is not allowed to sit and rest on....so for some reason bored is not a term she fully understands.

Regardless, this site is incredibly fun- whether you are homeschooling, or would simply like to supplement some lessons for your brick and mortar-school-going tot.  Enjoy!

Confessions of a Homeschooler

Beeism of the Day

Mr. Fumble Bumble, during storytime last night (A 2 year old's stuttering rendition of a deep thought):  

"Mama, ......God......Adam........ummmmmm........Joseph......AHHHH (frustrated sigh)....... :(.......me......dinosaurs.....snake.....daniel..........:( I CAN'T SAY IT."

Queenie: "OH! You mean God was there with Adam and made the dinosaurs, AND he was also there with Joseph and Daniel? AND he's here with us? Is that what you mean?!" 

Mr. F.B. (happy smile): "YES!"  

Queenie (thinking to herself): "Oh, his thought pattern is hilarious!"  

(Many thanks to Brandi Picou for this picture of Mr. F.B. himself)

Bzzzzz......It's Reading Time!

Killer is reading.  Sometimes on his own.  At 4 years old, he has finally memorized all the most common sounds that the 26 letters of the English alphabet make, and sounds out words slowly but about 80% correctly.......all day long.  A year ago, Queenie was trying to start the pre-primer section of the 210 Dolch Words (Dolch Word Wikipedia), but Killer didn't quite get the concept, so she gave it another year...

Now, with the letter "sounds" firmly in his grasp, Killer is phonetically starting to read simple story books by himself.  Queenie still thinks it's very important that Killer master the 210 Dolch words, because that will greatly improve his vocal reading later on- he'll know the words by sight and not have to sound them out. (Making story-telling and reading out loud much smoother) 

Did you know The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss was written completely out of the 210 Dolch words?  Just a tiny tidbit Queenie picked up this afternoon while trying to find a fun (free!) word chart to print out for Killer. 

Killer loves hands-on games, so Queenie printed out the first two site word charts from this wonderful site that showcases the absolutely gorgeous artwork of Jan Brett. Dolch Word lists from JanBrett.com Killer cut them out, and Queenie used contact paper to attach them to his clipboard....making a darling dry-erase board.  The game of the afternoon was Queenie saying a word, Killer finding it, and circling it with his (favorite color) green dry erase marker.

Another idea for the same "game" boards that Queenie had were:  putting a small treat (honey nut cheerio, raisin, M&M, etc...) on each box, and Killer gets to gobble up the treat as soon as he says the word correctly.

For Mr. Fumble Bumble (2 years), the bees are working on letter recognition. Queenie found a darling letter chart on this same Jan Brett website.  She attached it to a second clipboard for Mr. F.B. exactly the same way. The dry-erase board concept stays the same- only with letters instead of site words.

Queenie and the bees hope you enjoy this wonderful site that provides oodles of (free!) educational and fun activities for kids.

CORRECTION: For simplicity and ease when cleaning your "dry erase" board, Queenie has just discovered that using Crayola Washable Markers is MUCH easier to clean with a damp paper towel than dry erase markers.  So....that is her new suggestion.  

A Rare Sunny Day...

Here in Asia, whenever you take a photo of someone who is living locally, visiting an historically important place, or just experiencing normal day-to-day life, they are 99.99% likely to flash the "peace" sign in every photo.  

Queenie snapped a quick pic of Killer playing at the park....with a 4 year old's "interpretation" of the peace sign!  This pic was definitely not staged....Killer was just tryin' to be cool. 

Rainy March

It's been raining on Queenie and the 3 Bees....again and again and again and again (exactly how Killer and F.B. describe it) This coming Sunday is Easter (or Resurrection Sunday, for Christians), the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus.  It's important to Queenie and DH that the little buzzing bees learn that this coming Sunday holds as much (if not more!) significance as Christmas Day, which is celebrated with much enthusiasm in this little hive.  

In preparation for this special holiday, Queenie ordered two Easter coloring books- a 2-5 year old one for Mr. Fumble Bumble, and a 5-8 year old one for Killer. Each book tells the story of Palm Sunday, The Crucifixion, and the Resurrection in a way that is completely appropriate for small children.  ChristianBook.com has hundreds of inexpensive, but doctrinally sound, options for teaching children the significance of certain Christian holidays.  For story time each night, we've been reading the coloring books....which might seem odd to you, dear readers, but Queenie realized that the story was well-written for this age group.  Also, it is special to the bees because they can recall the story as they color each particular page.  

In addition to the special Easter coloring books, and because it just won't stop raining, Queenie helped F.B. and Killer make little bunnies to celebrate Spring.  Now, Queenie realizes that bunnies have absolutely nothing to do with Resurrection Sunday, so we've been calling them our "Spring Bunnies". Little Baby Bee even had one made especially for her, with long knotted ears just right for grabbing and chewing.  (Baby Bee's 4th and 5th teeth are popping out, and she is chewing everything in sight!) 

The bees here just thought you readers might enjoy seeing the projects we've been working on- the little baskets with bunnies and cookies were made by this bee hive's occupants to share some Spring joy and sunshine with several special friends also stationed here on our base.  All the bees hope that you, dearest readers, enjoy the following snapshots that add some visual detail to the last few days' happenings.

 

 

Killer the Bee and Mr. Fumble Bumble work with needles and thread for the first time....the results were quite humorous, but at least it gave Queenie a few minutes to cut out the actual fabric for the bunnies! 

The Boy Bees stuff their individual bunnies while listening- Queenie promises this was not staged- to their Playskool Mp3 players with, what else, but their vintage stories!  (see previous post, The Bees Knees)

Baby Bee plays with her finished bunny

Killer and F.B. do some "baking" of their own...(continued below)

Baby Bee joins in the pretend baking fun...

Queenie's late-night (as in, started at 10PM) batch of "Orange Spring Cookies", which was really a gigantic batch of the world's most awesome sugar cookies with orange extract instead of almond extract! 

Straight out of the oven....(around 11PM)

Spring-themed lovelies

Queenie is wishing there were 40 hours to every day so she could have made more bunnies to share!  Unfortunately, she was able to complete enough to fill 8 baskets....maybe next year, she'll start working on them earlier! 

Nevertheless, the bees were excited to share a little sunny bunny joy.

If you, dear readers, are wanting to sew up a few of your own little darlings, the pattern is found here: Revoluzzza